Sister Barbara Grozelle contacted Furniture Bank to ask if we could help Janet with a sofa. Janet is a six foot tall lady from Rwanda and had just been re-united with 6 of her children after five years separation, for reunification reasons. She had three children killed in the war as well as her husband and brothers and sisters.
The day after her children arrived she had major surgery in hospital only to be told that she had advanced cancer. She was receiving chemotherapy and had extreme back pain preventing her from lying down…she could only sit upright and had only a kitchen chair to sit on. She could find no comfort.· Janet came here to Furniture Bank to see a sofa we had set aside for her. It was a beautiful leather sofa donated to us only a few days previous. She looked at the sofa and kindly asked if she could sit on it.Janet was then overtaken by a humble look in her eyes and a smile that brightened her face.; This one please”, she said and drops of tears fell from her eyes. She kindly asked if we would be possible for us to help with a mattress and an ironing board. We had a brand new mattress that had just been donated to Furniture Bank.It was a team effort working together to make sure that she received the best furniture available and we also arranged a special next day delivery to her apartment, to ensure that Janet could finally get a night’s comfortable sleep.
Working at Furniture Bank is sometimes more than just doing our jobs and accomplishing our mission. There are these special moments that we treasure and we try to share them with our donors because without their generous contribution and support, none of this would be possible.
